Throwing-sticks in the National Museum

The hook is of ivory and stands up above the wood. It needs only to be mentioned that this type, as well as those with eccentric forefinger perforations are used with the naked hand.

In the quarto volume of Beechey's Voyage, page 324, is mentioned a throwing-stick from Eschscholtz Bay, with a hole for the forefinger and a notch for the thumb, the spear being placed in the groove and embraced by the middle finger and the thumb. This last assertion is very important. When I first began to examine a large number of the implements, I could not explain the cavities for the finger-tips until this note suggested that the shaft rides outside of and not under the fingers. To test the matter I had a throwing-stick made to fit my hand, and found that the spear could get no start if clamped close to the throwing-stick by all the fingers; but if allowed to rest on the back of the fingers or a part of them, and it is held fast, by the thumb and middle finger, it had just that small rise which gave it a start from th